In this work the Al85Ni9Nd4Co2 alloy was used as a starting point for examining the possibility of forming bulk glassy Al-based materials by combining rapid quenching and ball milling techniques. Fine glassy powders were obtained by ball milling melt-spun amorphous ribbons using a severe cryogenic processing regime. The thermal stability data of the powders as obtained by constant-rate heating and isothermal DSC experiments together with viscosity measurements are discussed with respect to feasible consolidation conditions. The powder compaction was done by two methods (uni-axial hot pressing and extrusion) at 513 K for up to 15 min. Only the uni-axial hot pressing led to bulk Al85Ni9Nd4Co2 samples with similar glassy structure and Vickers microhardness values comparable to those of the initial melt-spun ribbons. (C) 2004 KluwerAcademic Publishers.